Getting Back Up
by LittleDaisy80
Summary: Kinomoto Sakura is a hardcore cheerleader. Li Syaoran is a hardcore soccer player. They both possess magic powers. So what will happen when Sakura gets into an accident that scars her and has her fear cheerleading and changes her into a bitter person? How will moving to Hong Kong and meeting Syaoran change anything? Sakura X Syaoran, Tomoyo X Eriol!
1. Prologue

"Five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" Sakura's backspot, Tomoyo counted. Sakura hopped into the stunt and went into a simple prep, just to get warmed up. "Cradle, one, two!" Tomoyo called. Sakura's bases, Chiharu and Rika, threw her up into the air and caught her when she came down.

These four girls were at cheerleading practice in Tomoeda High's cheer gym. This gym was lined with thick mats so that the squad wouldn't get hurt when stunting or tumbling.

"Girls, gather round!" their coach, Coach Ling, said. The girls obediently came over. "As you know, the annual Japanese High School Cheerleading Championships (A/N: I have no idea if this is a real competition or not, so…) is in two weeks, so we need to start polishing up our routine. We have to beat Ejou High this year, and I know we can. We have a strong squad here, and we can win, I can see it. So prepare for some very hard work for you this week." The girls all nodded in understanding. Ejou High had one of the best cheer squads in Japan, no doubt about it. But Tomoeda was better. It was just in competition that they got nervous and let all of their small flaws shine through. But not this year.

oooOOOooo

"Tighten your core, Kinomoto-san!" Coach Ling yelled to Sakura. She tried as hard as she could, but she was already tightening her entire body up there, and she was shaking from being so stiff. "Bring it down, Daidouji-san."

Tomoyo did as she was told, and they bumped Sakura down.

"Kinomoto, you are a very tiny girl. But keep in mind that Sasaki-san cannot hold you up there if you are just standing as if you are standing on ground. Hold your own weight." The words were harsh, but it only drove Sakura to work harder. Barely clearing five feet, she weighed only 73 pounds and didn't even try to diet. It would be unhealthy for some people, but Sakura had such a high metabolism and was very athletic. She can't help it- she even had an ice cream cone from the vending machine everyday at lunch.

When Coach Ling walked away, Rika said to her, "don't worry, Sakura-chan. You're perfectly fine up there- I could hold you up with one arm and not have any problem." Sakura have Rika a toothless smile. Rika wasn't supposed to be a base. She was small herself! So Sakura wanted to make lifting herself as easy as possible. Sure, Tomoyo was there to take some weight off, but still.

ooOOOooo

During the week, Sakura worked harder than ever. After a vigorous cardio workout including a two mile run out in the blazing sun as well as weights, Sakura would go home and do more. She wanted to win.

Kero watched her collapse on the bed each night. He told her many times to stop overworking herself, but she just smiled at him and told him that she was fine, and it was only for this week. Kero frowned, but decided to let it go. Sakura had grown up. She knew what she was doing.

oooOOOooo

May 23, 2012

This was it. It's time for them to show Japan and the rest of the world what the Tomoeda High cheerleaders were made of.

The girls held hands in a circle, giving each other words of encouragement. Their coach told them how proud of them she was, and how it was their time to shine.

Then they heard their school get called, and then it was really time.

oooOOOooo

Syaoran couldn't believe it. He was sitting here, at the freaking Japanese cheerleading competition for high school. They were probably all going to have their big pom poms and tiny uniforms and scream, "go team!" over and over again. It was going to be awful. Why was here then? Well, his cousin, Eriol, had dragged him here to watch his girlfriend, Daidouji Tomoyo, cheer. He apparently met her at a café in Japan and fell in love with her amethyst eyes and then, well, now it's been a month and he would travel all the way from China to Japan to watch her dinky cheerleading thing. It was pathetic.

Syaoran made the excuse to go to the bathroom, and stayed there for a good half an hour. He came back and saw that Eriol was enchanted by the people on the floor.

"Oh, Xiao-Lang. The cheerleaders here are so much better than the ones in China. They actually do really cool stuff!"

Syaoran glanced to the mat. "They're just dancing," he pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"That's because you missed all the good stuff!"

They were sitting in the middle of the front row, right behind the judges. The brunette cheerleader closest to him gave him a wink and a kiss. Syaoran threw up a bit in his mouth.

Their music finished, and the announcer yelled, "Thank you, Ejou High School!" The cheerleaders spirited wildly, yelling that the Ejou wildcats were number one, go big red, blah blah blah….

"And now here is… Tomoeda High School!"

The crowd, along with Eriol cheered loudly for them. They were obvious favorites to win. "This is Tomoyo's school!" Eriol said excitedly. Syaoran snorted. Maybe he should just become a cheerleader. He would definitely give a lot of enthusiasm.

The girls came bounding out. Their hair was up in high ponytails, their bows were a shiny material that gleamed with the bright orange color. Their uniforms were the same orange with a complementing blue. They had on dramatic makeup and wore wide, faux smiles.

Their music started, and so did the girls. They threw a small girl up in the air, at least a few feet. She spun down, and a few other girls tumbled out.

Syaoran widened his eyes. He had never seen cheerleading like this before. There were two girls on the edge, running over the rest of their squad, who had bent down to provide a runway with their backs. The two girls hopped into stunts, one right in front of him. It was the same girl in the beginning.

She had auburn hair, emerald green eyes, rosy cheeks. One girl was holding her up with her arms fully extended with another girl (It's Tomoyo, Xiao-Lang! Look, it's Tomoyo! –Eriol) with dark hair to help. Not that they needed it. This girl was as skinny as hell. He would have bet that she was anorexic. But Syaoran didn't concentrate on that. The thing that set her apart from the rest of the team was that her eyes were full of excitement and her smile was genuine. He kept my eyes on her the whole time.

She was really good. Her flipping and tumbling was crisp and her movements were sharp. But after the dance sequence, she seemed to be losing steam. Her jumps weren't as high, her smile was fading, and her eyes were losing the energy.

Once they reached the final stunt, she looked exhausted. The other girls looked fine, but she looked on the verge of death. But she still had a smile on her face, even if it was forced.

Suddenly, she fell out of the pyramid they had built, and dropped like a fly. The girls that had been holding her up caught her, but they were panicked. "Sakura-chan!" Syaoran heard the girls screan. "Sakura-chan!"

"Oh no," Eriol whispered next to him.

"What? Is she going to be alright?"

"I don't know how she is, but that girl is Kinomoto Sakura. She's Tomoyo's best friend."

Kinomoto Sakura. That was her name. She was laid onto the ground, and the music was cut off. Paramedics immediately came out and surrounded her. They said that she was passed out from exhaustion and not getting enough rest and nutrients. Everybody was silent as they watched her get strapped up and rolled away. Some girls hugged each other in sympathy, and most of the girls were in tears, Tomoyo bawling the loudest. A girl with mahogany hair held onto her, patting her back, but she was crying too. Why were they crying? It's not _them_ that got hurt. But I was worried about that girl.

Helpers on the side gently guided the sobbing girls off of the mat, and the audience was still, almost as if there was nobody in the stands. I couldn't even believe what I just saw. That girl… what would happen to her?

**A/N: So that was the prologue! If any of you didn't like all that cheerleading, don't worry, not all of the chapters will be like that! I just wanted to show (if it wasn't obvious enough) that Sakura is a hard core cheerleader.**

**So since the summary doesn't say much, this may help your understanding of the story:**

**Q: Is this a Sakura and Syaoran story?**

A: Yes.

**Q: Will this take place in Tomoeda, Japan, or Hong Kong, China?**

A: Though a lot of fics take place in Japan, mine will take place in China.

**Q: Will there be a lot of cheerleading that I won't have any clue to understand?**

A: Nope!

**Q: Will it be Sakura chasing after Syaoran, or the other way around?**

A: You'll have to find out!

**Q: Do you like Nicholas Sparks?**

A: Yes, I find his stories heart-warming.

**Q: Are you a fashionista?**

A: Yes, I like shopping and am good at picking out sweaters.

**If you have any questions, leave it in the review and I'll try to answer them!**

**NOTE****: If you are curious about Tomoeda's cheer routine, I got the idea from a video on YouTube you can check out:**

Columbus High School Cheerleading 08 STATE CHAMPS!

**They girl I portray as Sakura is the dark-haired girl that is thrown up in the very beginning of the routine.**

**Please R&R! XOXO, LittleDaisy80**


	2. Chapter 1

**Sakura POV**

I can't believe that I actually have to go to Hong Kong. Luckily, my brother and I are moving in with Tomoyo, since she was going to leave to live there anyways. Her mom's toy company became very popular, so they decided to expand to China, and the easiest way to run a business in a country, is naturally, to live in that country.

But really? China? Don't people, like, beat their kids there? I don't want to be walking on the street and have this bruised kid flung out of a house at me.

Grumbling, I rolled my large Louis Vuitton suitcase behind me. Looking back, I saw my brother pushing a cart with my two other matching suitcases and his one medium-sized black suitcase. Even with Tomoyo, it sucked to move. Chinese is definitely not my thing.

"Come on, Touya, let's go!" I yelled at my brother.

"I'm coming, you dumb booger! I don't see you pushing a heavy cart with three more bags on it!"

I shrugged and turned to look for Tomoyo in the airport. It was pretty empty, since it was only Thursday afternoon. I didn't want anybody coming to me to give me an emotional goodbye or anything. It would just cause unnecessary attention and be a hassle.

"Sakura!" I heard. I turned to my right and saw Tomoyo waving at me with a wide grin on her face. Unlike me, she was excited to go to China. She would get to see Eriol _all the freaking time._

I remembered the last time I had a boyfriend. He was on the archery team, quiet and polite, a straight-A honors student. His name was Takahiko or something. I never dated any outgoing or popular guys. They were just players and you couldn't have a decent conversation with them without them trying to grope your boobies or rub your thigh. Hands off of my girls, bro!

I dated him in eighth grade. Well, it's my junior year now. Since then, cheer had completely taken over my life. But now, I guess I have more free time to kill.

"Aren't you just so excited? We're going to China! Did you practice your Chinese?" Tomoyo asked, bubbling with excitement.

"So excited," I said, making a pathetic attempt at trying to sound eager. "My Chinese has improved so incredibly much in the past month without any help from any textbooks or tutors because I am just _such_ a smart cookie."

Tomoyo lightly punched my shoulder. "Come on, Sakura. China is a new start! It'll be fun, I promise."

"It won't be fun when I fail school!"

"You always managed to squeeze out nicely. Besides, you never cared about school anyways," Tomoyo pointed out.

"Yeah, that's when I thought cheerleading was going to be my career. Also, if you count getting a 75.4% when the lowest acceptable passing score is a 74.9%, then yes, I managed to squeeze by quite nicely."

"Reading the actual textbook was a good idea for the final," Tomoyo smirked.

"Well, sorry that I didn't pay attention to what notes I was writing down," I snapped. "Besides, that textbook was at least ten thousand pounds."

"She wrote the notes on the board, and I'm pretty sure they didn't include pictures of you stunting and that 10 + 6 is 11." I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off.

"Well, bickering brigade, I hate to break up your argument, but we have a plane to catch," Touya interrupted.

Just on time, the announcer said, "Flight number 78 to Hong Kong, China, is now boarding. Flight number 78 to Hong Kong, China, now boarding."

"That's us, guys!" Tomoyo's mom chirped. "Let's go!"

We followed Mrs. Daidouji, dragging all of our belongings with us.

oooOOOooo

I woke up, a nasty smelling breath in my mouth. I held in my yawn, in fear of poisoning the entire plane. I looked next to me, where Tomoyo was still sleeping.

I looked to my other side, out the window. I reached for my glasses and saw that we were starting to move past the greenery and small villages and transferring to the busy cities and winding roads. It wasn't going to be too long until we landed.

Looking past the wide, first class aisle, I saw both Touya and Mrs. Daidouji already awake, if they had even slept at all.

Returning my gaze to the window, I felt my pocket for my iPod and pulled it out, putting the headphones into my ears. I took my gaze off of the window for a second to pick a playlist, and let Adam Levine guide me back to the window.

oooOOOooo

By the time there was an announcement for landing, I had gone through my playlist two full times, going on my third. I pulled my earphones out, Maroon 5 fading into the distance.

I gently nudged Tomoyo, who was still sleeping.

"Nnhmmm?" she mumbled sleepily.

"We're landing soon," I told her..

"Okay," she replied, but a minute later, she hadn't moved a muscle and I assumed she fell back asleep. Shrugging, I started playing games on my iPod.

I started off playing Flow, then moved onto Llama or Duck?!, but by that time, the plane was already landing and I would hit duck even when I wanted to tap llama. Slightly frustrated, I wrapped my headphones around my iPod and placed it into my jacket pocket, zipping it up to secure.

"Tomoyo, wake up," I said, nudging her again.

She mumbled something, but didn't fully wake up.

"Wake up," I said again, nudging her harder. She didn't move. I grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her almost violently. "Wake up, you pesky oik!"

Her violet eyes fluttered open and she had a wild look in them. "What? Who got shot?"

"We've landed," I told her.

The plane slowly stopped.

oooOOOooo

After hopping off of the plane, we retrieved out bags and waited outside of the airport for a taxi to pick us up. Instead, a sleek black car pulled up.

"You can't always trust the taxi drivers around here," Mrs. Daidouji explained.

We all strapped into the car without protest. The leather seats and gracious space definitely beats those stuffy taxis.

We drove for around ten minutes, and then pulled up in front of a smooth, yet tall stone wall. When the car finally stopped, I saw two large iron gates. It was only when we passed those that I saw how thick the walls actually were. Probably the width of Tomoyo, Touya, and me combined.

The mansion was gorgeous. It was large, wide, and I could go on forever about all of the details that I loved about it.

"My grandparents owned this home before they moved to Singapore," Tomoyo said. "That's why it's so extravagant."

That explained it. Tomoyo's grandparents were loaded. Generally, Tomoyo comes from a rich family. I wasn't necessarily poor, but I would definitely not be counted as some kind of heiress, like Tomoyo. Let's just say I was slightly above average. Being an archeologist, my father made a generous amount of money, but when he works on holidays or when he actually finds some artifacts, _well then_, that's a whole different story.

Butlers dressed in black suits came out and took our bags, though I was reluctant. I wasn't used to somebody handling my things. But when Tomoyo practically flung her suitcase at one of them, I let go and gave them a smile. In return, they merely bowed and proceeded to show us the way into the mansion.

oooOOOooo

Since it was my first time here, my room wasn't anything too extravagant. The walls were a light pink with a classic baroque gold design painted over them, and my bed was a full. I had two closets, my own bathroom, three large windows with a balcony, and plenty of space.

I settled in, putting my lounge clothes away into the dresser, and putting my undergarments into the lingerie chest. By the time I had gone through my second suitcase, I had filled up most of the drawers in the room, and I had run out of hangers. You could say I was a heavy traveler. Of course, I could have used the cards to do all the work, but I wasn't a lazy person.

Deciding to ask Tomoyo for any spares she may have (since she travels as light as me), walked down the hallway to the next room. Opening one of her French doors, I was nearly blinded by her room.

Hers, on the other hand, was much more intricate than mine. Her room had many shades of pinks and purples, and hers was larger. She had a main room that had her desk and television area, and then there were two small steps leading to her actual bedroom.

"Tomoyo?" I called.

"In here!" I heard. Walking towards the bedroom part of her room (more like mini-apartment), I went into her closet. She was sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of clothes.

"Hey! What do you need?" she asked cheerfully, folding a t-shirt.

"I was going to ask for some hangers, but maybe you need all of them," I said, eyeing the heaps of clothes.

"Yeah, maybe… Well, you could go to the laundry room," she suggested. "We'll probably have some there. It's down the stairs and the farthest room to your left."

"Thanks," I said, and went for my destination, hoping I wouldn't get lost.

oooOOOooo

**Syaoran POV**

I dribbled the ball between my legs, running as fast as I could. Easily dodging the players on the opposing team, I passed to Eriol, who ran the ball to the goal, and shot. The goalie got his hands on it, but instead of slamming the ball outwards, he pushed it down, and it bounced up from the ground and went into the goal.

I let out a whoop of victory, and slapped Eriol on the back. The buzzer sounded, and we had won. Again. It wasn't even that hard of a game. We won, 3-5.

After shaking hands with the other team, we had a talk with our coach, and then left. I went with Eriol to his house, where we showered and got ready for this spring party my mom was hosting. Being members of the famous Li clan of sorcerers, we hosted extravagant parties that were perfected by our magic, and more importantly, the most boring things that have ever existed. Ever.

I dressed in a crisp light green dress shirt, with a silver tie, and black slacks on the bottom. Eriol took the wonderful manly opportunity to wear a violet colored shirt with a white tie, and black bottoms as well.

I combed my hair to a relatively nice state while Eriol put in his contacts. He used to wear these dorky glasses that took up half of his face, and I was quite thankful when he ditched those suckers.

Sighing, I said to Eriol, "Ready for the next four most wasted hours of our lives?"

Equally as eager, Eriol replied, "Super ready."

With that, we went downstairs and headed into the backyard, where people have already started to gather.

oooOOOooo

**Sakura POV**

"We're going to a party?" I asked.

"Yes, it's a party of important people, and since I have to go, you have to go as well."

"Why?" I whined. "I still have jet-lag."

"You slept for a few hours, you'll be good," Tomoyo said. "You're going with me, so just suck it up."

Obviously, Tomoyo wasn't too excited about this party herself.

"Okay, so what should I wear?"

"The party's semiformal, and the theme is springtime. So wear pastel colors," Tomoyo read off of a piece of cardstock, which I assumed was the invite.

"I don't own pastel colored semiformal wear that is suitable for springtime," I said. "So maybe I can skip?"

"Come here," Tomoyo beckoned. She led me to a rack of clothes lining the back of her closet. "I designed these clothes, so you're going to wear one and gush at the party about how amazing Daidouji Tomoyo's clothing line is."

I raised my eyebrows, but nodded. "Sure," I said sarcastically.

Going through the racks for a minute, she finally pulled out a dress. It was a white lace dress, with green bow tied at the waist. It had a modest neckline, coming up until the bottom of the neck. It was sleeveless, and from the neckline to the top of the chest, it was a sheer lace, but then there was more layering of white fabric to cover up my goods. Generally, it was a very cute dress.

"Wow, Tomoyo," I gasped. "Did you really design this?"

"Mmhmm," Tomoyo nodded proudly. "Come on, try it on."

oooOOOooo

The dress was perfect. It hung just right on my figure, and ended around three inches above my knees.

"Sakura, I thought you told me you gained weight since you stopped cheering."

"I did!" I defended. "I'm almost 85 pounds now."

Tomoyo muttered something that sounded like skinny stick, but I ignored it. Sorry that I'm just a little person.

"I made this for my ten year old cousin, for goodness sakes."

"And it fits like a freaking charm." I admired my look in the full length mirror.

Rolling her eyes, Tomoyo said, "Just let me get my dress on and then I'll do your hair."

I nodded slightly, twirling around to see the dress from the back. It didn't flare out, but it wasn't super-tight. It was just perfect.

oooOOOooo

Tomoyo came back, donning a light purple dress. It was strapless, and flared out when she turned. It had silver detailing, and brought out her eyes.

She had her hair up in a loose ponytail, with strands falling out just slightly. She had on silver earrings and bracelets. On her feet, she wore silver flats.

I wilted like a flower next to her.

Laughing, she said, "Don't worry, Sakura. Once I'm done with you, you might be as gorgeous as me!"

I stuck my tongue out at her as she started working on my hair. She French-braided my bangs out of my face, and braided normally the rest of the way down. She brushed my hair until it shined, and spritzed some perfume on me that got up my nose, and I wrinkled it in distaste.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Sure."


End file.
